Transcripts For CSPAN AFL-CIO 20240703

Headquarters in washington dc good morning, everyone. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for coming today. Good morning, everyone. Thanks, louisa. I thought you were going to give me a shout out or something. My name is jason. I am representing the Teachers Union. The American Federation of teachers. [applause] i have been a part of that union since 20 years. This morning i was asked to share a few words with you. A little bit about my perspective on unions and why they are so important. Right off the bat, one of the things i would like to share, the reason i ever became a teacher and walking right out of college and out of high school going to college knowing i want to be a teacher one day. Louise who just kicked us off is my student. It is one of the things that unions do so well. They Bring Community and how to impact the Community Front and center. I believe that is one of the things that not only attracted me to teaching, but certainly is one of the major talking points about what unions do for all of us. Im really interested in benefiting and enhancing my communities. That is one of the reason i became a teacher. The unions that we have from my experience working with the Teachers Union is that they really help us to bring a collective voice of unity and strength around us. One quick example on our flight over here yesterday afternoon. Louise is a career technical student and plans on being a electrician. One of the things we know very much to be true is anytime you have a opportunity to work with a student there is always a lesson to be learned. For you and for the student. It is kind of crazy that this is this really happened on the flight where we organically started talking about wages and how much people earned. We were talking we inevitably laid it on how much money his parents make. It was a striking point for him. What a living manageable wage looks like. We cant say enough that this is really one of the most important things that we know unions provide for all of us. A living, breathable, manageable wage that is built around built around equity and comfort so we can all live this American Life that we are attempting to live as people. For me and that was an important moment because it shows what ive seen so much in the last five years or so as a teacher. I actually helped. One of my positions is a skilled usa advisor where we help to close the gap. That is one of my main jobs everyday day of my life is helping young focus on closing those gaps and stepping into unions. I think so many young people are thinking about that. As louise just in that conversation was thinking about what a living and is believed looked like was a great connector firmly. It was about union and strength and managing good wages that unions represent and have represented for me as a teacher for the last 20 years. Something i am really excited about that he is going to be able to learn and how he is going to be able to live his life with meaning and purpose Going Forward as well. [applause] thank you very much. Good Morning Union family. Yes. I am proud to be here representing my union. I have been a member since 2009. D. C. Born and raised. I am going to do my best to bring the drama and make my fellow Union Members filed. Proud. We are day 47 on our tv and Motion Picture strike against the amptp today. The first dual strike in 50 years. I primarily do voiceovers. This is a little new for me even as a actor. I do want to take a second to take in the power in this room. It is a power of our deep resilience and resolve of Union Members in a face of a striking and fighting for our rights. One a stronger, longer. That is right. [applause] the same power with veld at our strike events that we have been doing all over the mid atlantic the last month and a half, is the same power growing in every union hall in place of employment across the country seeking into public consciousness right now as of the labor market quickly starts to grow again. A big part thanks to millennials and gen z. Mr. Power of our strike acting as a beacon for other workers appeared visual effects workers are organizing a disney and marvel in our industry. Animation studios and production studios are with you. The president and founder of the amazon labor union, we are looking to our right, we got your back. We are looking to our left, we got your back. People in our industry are seeing this moment and say we deserve this ability to organize to. We deserve a fair wage too. Lets experience a for ourselves. This is every workers moment. It is a rebirth of a movement. Joining and getting engaged with my community was a gateway. [applause] i have been a sagaftra member since 2009. Good wages in shot at Good Health Care because of that Union Difference. It has invited me to engage in civic duty and teamwork with my colleagues at a time when so many of us are filling dissolution by the state of american divisiveness. It is only going to change if we make a change. I am living proof that life is better in the union. The union has brought me back to my family roots. I want to honor those who came before us, not just those who walk ahead of us. My grandparents are with me in my heart right now. They were labor organizers and educators in michigan. [applause] thank you. They would never hesitate to share stories with me. To point out where society has trickling in my youth to thinking greed and opulence were the goal of the sacrifice of the collective. Violent competition and economic exploitation were simply normal and acceptable under the corporate realism and capitalism. We are all storytellers. We are all organizers. We have the power to spread the gospel of the Union Difference and the obligation to deprogram as many folks as possible from the dehumanizing necessities of wealth and greed. It is never too late to tell the story of how collective bargaining can help us at a time we needed the most. Just like the wga and after winning a fair contract, the Labor Movement paradigm shift to worker power is not just a matter of if, it is a matter of when. Hot labor summer maybe ending, but that just means we will win winter i want to say to employers who are refusing to bargain with us, hold onto your butts, because we will take back what is we are truly worth from the corporate dinosaurs. As generation stand with us in spirit in this very room and the young currently revitalizing in the Labor Movement in the future generations who carry the flame one day longer, one day stronger, weve got your back, ask for having our back. I am living proof that life is better in the union. Thank you for having me. [applause] so i decided to join the union because i left school, i did not know what i wanted to do area and i went to school because that is the next that. It is like maybe you graduate high school, you go to college you do all this the and i said i dont know for a job, had no clue. My dad is a electrician and hes been a member of the i remember seeing the logo in hearing about it. I did not know the benefits and everything it had to offer. I knew that i could do the schooling and that would be given me what i was looking for. I did not want to just work for a company and almost waste time with no real set in in mind end in mind. I knew i could get a skill set here with things i could take away with me. What is really cool is that i just moved to go to the ibew renew conference i just went to the ibew renew conference. It was refreshing to see all the other young people who maybe went to college, a be we didnt, but we joined the union and it totally changed our lives. A lot of you can go do your 9to5 which i did the first couple years. It was amazing. My company saw a lot of potential to me and they allowed me to move up as long as i was willing to learn and try they gave me opportunities. And that is the same thing here, if youre willing to learn and put in the time, they will let you advance and advance in your career. Seeing all these young people who had the same goal and love for the union had a lot of impact on me. It was supercool to see people who are just as passionate as i passionate as i feel about it. When sometimes people say i dont know what ill do for work as they have you heard about the union . I figure just give it a try. If i hadnt tried it i would not have known. If i would have gotten more involved in meeting clubs outside of my daily job, i would not have realized how many aspects there are and how many opportunities there are beyond being in the field and labor and working in the office of your company. Theres policy, marketing, production, you know what i mean . You can have any kind of career inside of the union. And you can have that collaboration and safety net. You know youre working with other people that care about you and we all have the same goal and that is to progress forward. So, honestly, it has changed my life dramatically being a part of the union because being around so many people who can have the same goals and values of me even though we do not really know each other and being able to come amongst them, everyone it feels like family. It is so, it is oddly refreshing, you know what i mean . So not only has it changed my career goal but i did not know what to wanted to do but i have endless opportunities with job security and confidence. I can take that away i sold a new light on a dimmer installed a new light on a dimmer switch in my room and i said i know how to do this. Even that is so cool to me. My mom is like what are you doing . You know how to do this. And i say yeah, i know safety stuff. So it really change my life in so many ways. I tried to push it on younger people because if you are not know what you want to do there is no point in tort of looking around aimlessly or not working. You know what i mean . It is like go in there and start making money they will teach you everything you need to know every day. They will not that you up to fail, they want you to become the best. So i say everything is better in the union. [applause] of organized labor throughout this country, u. S. Trade ambassador, ambassador catherine is with us. Thank you. [applause] thank you. We also have a good friend. A good friend, one of the strongest activists unions in this country. They are present at the president of the 2 million activists fighters from the Service Employees internet through union. With us. And this next one is somebody who i referred to as the dean of the flc executive council. She wakes up every morning. And she thinks about what she could do with her million and a half or 2 million members the largest civilian group, and she thinks every day on how they can improve the quality of education and create a safe space for the children and Public Education throughout this country. President Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of teachers. [applause] look. I want to thank all of you for being here and for those of you who are joining us out there on livestreaming. Welcome to the house of labor. As we kick off Labor Day Weekend , it you know it is a holiday that many of us look forward to every year. It is a day that is rooted in resistance. And a day that is rooted in history. It is a day that was to remember. It was the Labor Movement and sacrifice the child labor. We challenged inhumane working conditions. It was a Labor Movement that created this. Think about it, we transformed dangerous jobs into good family sustaining careers. Industry by industry unions help gold america and we should never forget that. We should never forget that. [applause] it is the Union Movement. It is the Union Movement in this country that wakes america up every morning and tucks her to sleep every night. But labor day is also a time of reflecting on the reason progress working people have made transforming our communities and our country by standing together in unions. That is what we do. We stand together. The word is injury to one it is injury to all. That is the way we survive. It is also a time for labor day to stop take stock and reflect on the american Labor Movement. You know when president schumer and i were tasked with this two years ago, we wanted to create an open and an inclusive Labor Movement. The Labor Movement that was able to connect with all workers. In every sector and community in this great country of ours. A Labor Movement with women and people of color at the center of everything that we do. And with working people as the center of the economy and national policy. A movement that would resonate with workers at the start of their working careers and with workers at the end of their careers. And everyone in between. And president schumer will be sharing some incredible findings in just a minute on how that movement is growing. Every day. More and more working people are finding out it is the Labor Movement, that is the solution to low wages, unsafe work laces and inequality and discrimination. The Labor Movement. It is the only institution in america that has the infrastructure to reach and address and vanquish obstruction. The working people standing up for one another are an incredible force for progress. It works in the union, economy, and democracy. See the president and i know firsthand the power of the good union job. Delivered both of our families from a life of already and put them on the path to a solid middleclass. Those union jobs changed lizs families life and my family life and it changed ours. And i went we want every person to know the power of a good family sustaining union job. Believe me, life is truly better in a union. So [applause] once again, i just want to thank for joining us today. At this time, i have a privilege and distinct honor to introduce a person that i have had the pleasure of working with over the past two years. Her commitment, or clarity of purpose regarding our movement and its future and her unwavering belief that it is better in the union. That has distinguished her as the leader that we need to build the movement at this moment. Lets welcome the president of the aflcio president schuler. [applause] wow, wow, wow. Thank you so much. You are a true partner. Thank you fred lets give it up for fred. [applause] good morning, good morning, good morning everyone. This brings me such joy from the workers we heard this morning. I want to say to everyone in the room welcome union family allies friends and partners. Welcome us with this beautiful mural here. And i want to thank everyone watching in the virtual world. Thank you for being part of the new labor day tradition. This is the first inaugural we hope. Each year we are going to come together and talk about where working people stand in this country. And the story that we will share with you today as inaugural state of the union it is our story. Our story is working people will. It is a story of a number, 88 which i will come back in in a few minutes. But i want to reflect on what we just heard from the workers that we heard from this morning. Every day i traveled this country, i talked to workers, ive talked to workers in unions, of course and i also talk with working people who are not yet part of the the union. This is what i hear from them. I do not good about my future. I need to make more money. I wish i could afford a home. Im hearing a lot about that. I need a stable job. And i wish i had the power over my work and my life right now. There is a reason that song north of richmond is the number one song in this country right now. For a long time, working people in this country have felt powerless. They have been powerless. Here is the truth that we will talk about today. Working people are reclaiming our power. [applause] working people. Working people are taking on the companies that have exploited us for a long time now. So, the state of the union, the state of the unions is on the rise. [applause] on the rise with every strike, picket line, every win we deliver for workers across the country. My first job coming out of college was essentially two and three jobs pieced together. So i could make fulltime pay. One of them was a clerical worker in rutland, oregon where i grew up. It was the same place my mom and dad worked. The local power company. My mom worked as an Office Worker as well, my dad worked at the power alignment. He was in the union. And he almost didnt even need to see the card because you felt it when those linemen walked around. The power they had. They knew their voice was respected. Our clerical workers, on the other hand, did not have a union. It was frustrating. The same way i hear young people and workers today talk about this feeling like you should just be grateful you had a job. This feeling you were being taken for granted and not really seen. Certainly not heard. So i became an organizer. I became part of this Incredible Team of mainly women that tried to form a union to help build that collective strength so we could demand more. More pay, but also, more respect. And when the Company Found out about the union drive, guess what happened . They punched back with this fierce antiunion campaign. It made everyone afraid that they were going to lose their jobs. I guess it was disappointing, but may be not in our election. But in that loss, i guess it is not really a loss, we learned so many and edible lesson many incredible lessons. Incredible lessons that i take with me today and lessons that these workers know. The idea of a union may seem complicated but it reality it is just a group of people coming together. It is about each of us becoming the most powerful version of ourselves that we possibly can be. There is Nothing Better than finding that power alongside the people that we work with and being part of something bigger than ourselves. That is all the union is. It is that simple. Now, workers have been living on the edge in this country. Workers have been told they were essential during the pandemic, remember this . Everybody was out with their pots and pans they were told if they work through the overtime and got us through this rices, it would pay off. Workers who bounced from gig jobs to gig jobs who know they are one bad break away from car damage, a bad sick day, from not making rent. They look at it for future that is very uncertain. There is a climate that has us working in 110 degree heat. Massive challenges around technology, artificial intelligence, attacks on our democracy and our basic rights. So, we have to be really blunt about how we ought to this moment. Got to this moment. About the forces that got us here. First, we have corporate greed and inequality at levels we have never seen before. 70 years ago, the average ceo made about 20 times what the average worker in the country did. And just a few days ago, we put out our annual executive pay watch report, any guesses on todays pay ratio . Any guesses what that is . I hear 40. Its like a bidding war. 272 times. A ceo makes 272 times what the average worker does. Let me ask everyone in this room is it because they worked 272 times harder than the rest of us do . [indiscernible] does it make sense to anyone in this room that jeff bezos makes in seven seconds what a warehouse worker makes in a year . [indiscernible] i love it, no. That he has enough money to rocket himself into space while everyone in the country lives paychecktopaycheck. That kind of money is not logical it is not registered radical, it is not logical. It is not rational. And it has to end. [applause] second, we see the quality of american jobs being driven down. Jobs have been sent overseas and our manufacturing has decreased nearly 40 in the last 40 years. Gig work has replaced stable careers. Jobs are pieced together without an employee. Now, we talked about corporate greed, our jobs getting worse. The third force that got us here , we seen a systematic attack on our rights as workers over the last several decades. Right to work legislation is in dozens of space. The Supreme Court ruling like the janus decision, the list goes on and on. No, these forces are not new, but i will tell you what is new. What is different about this labor day is the awakening happening all across this country. It is up in detroit where just a few days ago 97 sent percent of our group said there ready to walk up a job and push back against the big three. [applause] ready to fight for a day once again where good auto jobs build our middleclass. It is the teamster in the historic contract they just went with you in ups. I their ground and they won. [applause] it is in Starbucks Stores all over this country were two years ago we had euro union and today we have more than 300. Thank you Mary Kay Henry and the courageous starbucks workers united. It is on the picket line with sagaftra and the wga in new york city, l. A. , atlanta, chicago, all over the country. When i was up in new york city i saw that everyone could see what was happening with actors and performers and ways overs standing their ground. And then you had taxi drivers honking, food delivery drivers cheering them on, construction workers chanting alongside all of us. Its been a long time since this country has seen workers united like this. A long time. We have seen more than 200 strikes so far this year. Already. That involves more than 320,000 workers. That is 10 times more than even two years ago. Every industry, every red state, every blue state, everything in between. Now i told you, i feel this energy, but obviously i am the leader of a National Labor federation so i might be a little biased, but washington is a town that runs on data and polling. We did our due diligence, we went out and talk to people all over this country. I want to tell you what we found. It isnt just organizers who support unions, it isnt just people on picket lines who support unions, it is the people of the United States who support unions. Thats right. [applause] you will cm the data more than two thirds of people in the country believe in unions. Do you know how hard it is to get two thirds of americans to agree on anything . Let me put it another way, more americans believe in union than they like chocolate ice arena ice cream and vanilla also. In case you wondered which one was more popular. A few minutes ago i mentioned the number 88, i did graduate high school 1988, but everyone should leave this room remembering the number 88 why . Because in our data 88 of Young Americans support unions. [applause] i just just need to say that again. Nine out of 10 americans under the age of 30 believe in unions. That is an eyepopping number, but when you think about our history, it is actually not that surprising. You can look up and down the federation at how union started and more often than not, whether we are talking about 19th sick shuri 19th century women, 21st century tech workers. You will go back to a couple twentysomethings who were fed up and willing to put it all on the line. And that is what this next generation is doing. They looked up and down at our union, our nurses, teachers, janitors, i am workers, janitors, publicsector workers, and they see the same thing. Unions work unions make peoples lives better. It is better in a union. [applause] and i am like fred, i have never been more confident that this generation will build a Labor Movement and an Even Stronger than weve ever had in the past. We will get there together. The first thing we will do is we are going to bring everyone into this movement. If you want to know what a union even is, we will walk you through it. If you want to join one at your job, we will help you do it. If you want to build a new union of your own one that looks nothing like what you see represented here today i could not be more excited to see what you build. I will be standing there ready to help you. We are in the middle of one of the greatest transformation of work in our countrys history. More text jobs, more startups, our unions are transforming along with it. If youre watching and you are sitting at a desk in an office thinking to yourself well, my granddad was in a union, it is really not for people like me though. Ask our tech workers what a union does for them. Ask the 5500 minorleague ace ballplayers who had their union with them majorleague Baseball Players Association Last year. Call them, call me. We are here and we are here to help you. Is there there is Something Else also. Being transformed in the country. If you have not noticed, President Biden is leading of movement to rebuild america. If you looking out a career in the construction trades, you cannot have better timing. This is the infrastructure generation. These are historic investments, trillions of dollars coming down the pike thanks to President Biden. Investment that is happening because our Labor Movement pushed for decades. Thank you. That means millions of jobs. So, the question now is what kind of jobs will they be . Every single job with these big investments, construction, transportation, manufacturing all of the supply chain, cafeteria workers will be part of the project, every single one should be a good union job. [applause] and i want to give a shout out to my sister bRandi Weingarten who has such incredible vision on connecting these jobs and how we educate young and prepare those pathways. Who i might add has led the aft for more than 55 organizing wins already this year. Incredible. [applause] now, the second thing we are focused on, thinking forward. Taking on these big challenges that will shape the next few decades. Let me remind us all the Technology Executives out there, we paid for the research that led to the ai breakthroughs. It was american tax dollars, workers tax dollars that helped make these innovations possible. We had better be damn sure that the wealth created can be used by all of us. That it makes our lives easier, our jobs better. That is not how it feels right now though. We feel afraid that technology is going to make us are less. Its going to make our jobs worse. Its going to dehumanize us. We feel that way for a reason though. Workers in places like amazon warehouses cannot take a bathroom break because they have to keep up with an algorithm. There is another way forward. Where we have a seat at the table and ai helps us do our jobs better. New Technology Actually works for working people. Listen to us, include us. And while we are talking about challenges, we cannot ignore the challenge our democracy is facing right now. Yes, we will turn out next year for President Biden in the most historic labor mobilization of our time. Yes. We are also going to be a 24 7, 365 lyrical force. We saw what was possible a few weeks ago in ohio, didnt he . That is right. Didnt we . That is right. [applause] where these extremist can put something called issue on on a statewide ballot or the vote. They wanted people to think it is in a sense a small procedural thing about the constitution, but this Labor Movement, our movement all it saw it for the attack on democracy that it was the attack on reproductive rights that it was and we drove a historic turnout. We won and we pushed be extremist back. [applause] cell, we will not be silent while we continue to demand a fair pathway so no workers left behind. [applause] so when it comes to the new sectors, offshore wind, green hydrogen, electric buses, we are going to set the standard right now at the beginning. It is not one or the other, protect the environment or have a good job, it is both. We cannot win without good jobs. We cannot win without americans on our side. So we are organizing those jobs already have and down our coast where offshore and is taking off. In the deep south where ev bus factories are being built. That is right. And just unionized. [applause] steel workers, bluebird workers courageously standing up forming a union. We are making sure that standard is set and that these are good union jobs. So, we talked about bringing people in. We talked about the challenges of the future. Here is the third area that is no critical. That is making sure that this movement belongs to all of us. For generations now the richest people and companies in the country divided us. Along the lines of race, gender, sexual orientation, immigration status. Even worse, they convinced us to divide ourselves. We fought the culture wars with each other and they made off with aliens of dollars that our hard work created. We live in a world where every woman loses 400,000 two though where of light black woman makes . 40 on the dollar to the same job of a man. Latino woman . 70 on the dollar. We came out of covid determined to address the inequities and disparities that were felt in communities of color all over the country and health care and education and criminal justice. I am ointment. We are not there yet. But this movement can get us there. This movement can get us there. This has to be a workingclass movement for right now. When i look at our picket lines, i see people of every background linked arm in arm. I see workers who know an immigrant does not stand between you and a good job, a billionaire does. [applause] remember . Remember the wage disparities that i mentioned, the Union Difference is what solves them, it is what cuts into the gender pay gap. It provides a safe workplace certain nurses have ppe instead of garbage bags in a pandemic. It gives workers Good Health Care and benefits. So we can take sick leave and do not go bankrupt because they need to see a doctor. He does not matter who you are, unions will work for you. A younger worker, an older worker, it is better in a union. Black, white, hispanic, indigenous, it is better in a union. Lgbtq is better in a union. [applause] unions are how we drive real, lasting change. I am not 88 sure, i am 100 set sure 100 sure. We have seen that and proven it over and over again. Right now we are on the rise. And if you are a worker out there who wants a better life come and be a part of this movement. We will keep growing our power, we will keep building at her lives for ourselves and our families. Building a better life for ourselves and our families. Thank you so much. [applause] thank you. Thank you for being here. We are not done. [applause] we are ready and we are actually going to hear from our workers another time. You heard from me, we want to do something a little different today, it is not just about talking on a stage, we actually want you to hear from our workers directly. We will have a discussion up all of you in the audience we want to make you a part of it and invite you to ask workers questions and engage in a conversation. It will be short our winter window of time is precious here but without lets bring our workers to the stage and we will have this discussion. Come on up and join. Join me. And get your questions ready. Everyone can hear me . Fantastic. This whole different format for us but we thought we would change it up a little bit and do something different. I am so honored to have you all with us today. Your stories are incredible and it brings home the union district. It is better in a Union Hearing from each of you. I am so happy to have luisa appear. The youngest person on the stage but has a Bright Future ahead. I just wanted to ask her, i think you are a rising senior in the electricity and Wiring Program in massachusetts. Thank you for coming down here to be with us today. So young people, we were talking about this number 88 and how prounion young people are. I wondered if you could tell us why . Why you think that is in your perspective, what is drawing Young Workers to unions . Guest personally i know people in the Electrical Program they are all union. Everything is in the union and their ultimate role they be the union. And i think the livable wage that you can support your family and not only help your family but your locals as well i think that in general makes us want to join the union. Host fantastic. If you could tell someone out there who does not really understand the importance of the union, say one of your elected officials, you know, people who sometimes attack unions, what would you tell them to let them know why unions are important. Guest union is union. We are all together. We all Work Together we are strong men beings. People will always hate on what we believe in but i believe that the union is the right option for our stand. That is where the the union is where i want to be. It brings livable conditions to everybodys life. If everybody could join a union and come together there would not be any problems. Host that is so true. [applause] host unions do bring people together in ways that i would say bridge the divide. We are all kind of often in our different camp and political philosophies, but everyone can agree that having a better life and taking other wedges wages and health care that is affordable makes living better. Guest [indiscernible] gabriel was a union leader here in the washington midatlantic, in terms of sagaftra both were on the tv and he is an actor performing in films and go to the theater and watch actors. In your profession, why does a union make such a great difference . Guest absolutely thank you for the question. I think you know the reality is that we are artists and storytellers. We are a reflection of culture and change. Those are things that i think we take for granted a lot, even myself as a consumer, when we are clicking on our television and paying our Subscription Services and dropping our dollars to go to the theater. Where is that money going . How is he going to the people who built your entertainment and your escapism from the round up rick by brick brick by brick . Is it being distributed fairly . One thing in this movement that has not been talked about enough is Greater Consumer consciousness and awareness of how are our products get to us and companies who patronized and treat their workers. It is on all of us, not all Union Members, but just allies in general people in the consumer business that realize that every industry is made up of a majority working class labor force. We are all struggling to get by. Even if you see us on tv or hear us in a film, all the stories are coming out about how some many working actors are struggling to get by. 86 of us are not making the health care fresh threshold of 26,000 a year. And even that has been a big stigma for us as actors and performers is the idea of oh, actors are all hollywood, all wealthy, and i cannot be further from the truth. I want to wear that stigma proudly and we need to break that and i think we need to break that in every industry. All labor is Skilled Labor as i said. We are ingrained in the society to think that something to judge other types of labor or to think that something is in need of certain people and the reality is all labor is Skilled Labor. Those that you see on the screen are those that come with stories where they are not being paid. You recognize them on the street but they are not being paid anything, barely anything in terms of residual or the amount of content is consumed. I think it is really important to recognize that and fight the stigma not just in our industry but all industries and have an organized force like our Union Representing we are a union of storytellers being able to get the story out here and connect it to the broader story movement. I am so grateful for that opportunity that the structure of our union gives us. I want to say again because i love saying get. To be union is us it is not in amorphous entity for those that are just learning about unions or want to get curious about and, it is you and i, us as members building together. So, i would love to remind those of that as well. Host putting the you in union as they say. You talked a little bit about how the union changed your life and i may just throw you a verbal question two curveball question as well. Why are young people so excited about unions . And secondly what advice would you give us in the Labor Movement to connect with the 88 of people out there . What could we be doing differently or better to make that connection and have people see that the Labor Movement is the place for them as a young person . Guest so, my opinion is that younger people they striving more toward collaboration. I feel like we see that a lot in many aspects of the world like the company that we work. We have a lot of shared Office Spaces and i feel like the world in a lot of places is so much more teambased versus just building the visual person their individual unit or home. We are trying to bring ourselves together more. I feel like the union hits those point for people because it gives them the skills to still work for themselves. Everyone does want to be an entrepreneur now it seems. I think that helps as well. The safety net to be able to work for yourself if you choose to do so and just being able to bring all these ideas together. Like i mentioned, i went to that conference and it was so interesting because we are all members of the ibew but everyone brought their own challenges they had. It is cool to be able to see meet with one of my sisters in california. She actually brought her baby to the conference because her union have accommodations for that. They might have more policy in order to help their members with childcare and things like that. Just being able to come together and unionize and really understand what peoples problems are, not just have a broad generalization or someone at the top is making decisions, but for them to all come together, share our struggles, share what works. And adopt that into our system. We do share a lot of the same struggles at the end of the day. So what i would tell people is there are so many perspectives in the world, it is just natural that when you have more head behind something you will come up with the best idea in the best way of doing things. I would think of the union because you are getting a larger perspective. You know what i mean . Youre going to hit your target market and satisfy more people which will then satisfy yourself. I think a lot of times the people at the top do not realize that we are the ones who make everything function. You need to help workers, you need to keep the gears greased or whatever you want to call it because they would not be at the top if we were not doing that. Host well said. Thank you. [applause] host jason is a High School Teacher and a skilled usa advisor, we look around the country and we see a series attacking Public Education. Could you talk a little bit about the attack against Public Education and how the union can make a difference in terms of beating back the types of attacks we are seeing today . That is a tough one. I did not get a layup to start here. [laughter] guest i think one of the things we see so much of it is with people, every time a teacher asks for something they actually need to do their job effectively, it is like we are crying and asking for more we are doing too much teachers this and that. It is amazing because when you think about when covid first struck, all of a sudden there was an outpouring of love that teachers are so important and what will we do without our teachers, look at them, they are saving us we are all out of our minds. And then as soon as we have a little shift we say how about we get better buildings . How about we make sure that we can the air quality is better and improve the supply, how about we improve things like the necessities, really. We are not, teachers in general are never the kind of people, for the most part i think anybody if you know a teacher in your life and you probably have, they are not asking for anything extravagant. We are just looking to do the things that we can so we can best help those young people around us. To kinda bring that back, i think the attack on Public Education in general is astonishing. For so long we have been doing so much with not enough and still achieving excellent result. And now the expectation is we will have even better results with still not much more. And i think that every teacher i know wants to be better. Wants to be making a more impact. They care genuinely, their hearts are full of love and they do this job because they wake up every day excited to see young people that they care about. [applause] guest and so just stop the nonsense. Unions are so important because without them we would not have the pureness that we already gets. And we certainly would not be able looking forward to all of the other things that hopefully are coming. You know that we continue to use to do that. The labor of love and passion. And here is a great example. Future unions even better as well. Host wow. That is why luis is going to remember you the rest of his life. We all have a teacher that made a difference. Guest i will remember him as well. Host we want to open this up for any questions, thoughts, conversation. This is totally unscripted, by the way, if you could not tell. [laughter] so we are kind of keeping it open and we want to know if you have any rations or comments in the audience. If anybody has any this is your opportunity. Luis will take the stage and answer all of the questions. And we do have microphones up so. Usually it just takes one question to get things started. Roxanne. Hello kudos by the way. Incredible. For all of you [indiscernible] so, your journey to become an iv w member is really ibew member is really inspiring. And you were talking about the . 88 number of those young people 88 number of those young people thinking about what they will do. Is your message ticking our peers is your message sticking . Our peers starting to join the union . I have not been able to get my personal friends to join. They are on their own career path and when they have trouble, i say well like i said do not did around waiting for a job you can at least do that you will always have the safety net of earning skills you may love it like i ended up doing. I will say though, it has been super exciting to be that with a lot of times when i go to Different Union event or i may just be doing something i my own accord, i will meet another female. Or another young person. They have no idea about the union and they say wait, you do what kind of work . You couldnt do that. And i say no, i promise you can. You can learn like you follow instructions. You can learn to do all of it. And so it has been really cool to even introduce other people on the street. Not necessarily people i know, but just introducing them to the possibility especially other females who might think this is intimidating or that it is too much for them. Nsa you are laboring to. Youre doing the labor job to. You can definitely do this. You can mark harder than me. It is pretty cool to see the response to telling people about the opportunity. I have not been able to follow up with a ton of people to cfa did continue their people to see if they did continue their journey, but ive been sharing with other siblings and friends. [applause] you cannot in the age of technology and ai the job in the trade has a very Bright Future. Lets all be thinking about that. Does anybody else want to ask a russian on the stage before i call ask a question before i call the next question from the audience . I will say career technical education. That is where it is at. Full or like we are trying to close the gill gap. Skill gap. In your speech today union your first line of often is in classrooms all across the United States where kids have these amazing skill sets that can only benefit by learning and understanding more about the opportunity of union and what they offer. That way they can see the vision for themselves as well. I just thought that was important to add. Host so well done. Sure, grabbed the mic. Good evening everyone. My question was for, you see that we have young youth and High School Children in the room. I am really big on you youth also. The relationship with the union and Even High School because they took training out of high school and do not even give you or a child an Opportunity Youth or child an opportunity to say i want to be a electrician and plumber. Is there any connection with the union and high schools . I live in d. C. , so i am thinking is that a relationship because theres another opportunity where we could get children into the union and allow them to learn about the union. Because i did not know about the union until i was older. I am sure if the union, when i was young was around and trade was in the schools, i am sure i would have been an advocate. Saying you need to work for the union. But do you have advocacy within the union to build relationships with high schools . Host we want to hear from randy who would be the perfect person for the answer. Guest first of all i did not set up that question. [laughter] guest but if you look at what we see here from lynn Vocational Tech High School which is, they are our many different programs in that high school. 18. 18 to be exact. Including radio and communication. It starts in high school. We have had to fight over the course of the last 30 years to keep some of these programs. I taught in a career and tech school in new york. I taught ap history there. That is a myth buster in itself, but the point we are trying to do right now is to give kids not an either or but a both and, which is to create a lot of opportunities not just from college, not just if they see the Apprenticeship Program and they go to it after they graduate from high school, but why not give young adults in high school, Junior High School lots of different opportunities to go to college, to create career certifications, and frankly if we do not do it in high school, 60 of kids in the country do not go to college, so we really need if we want to take advantage of what liz just said and gave us a vision of it, if we want to really align the good jobs of today and tomorrow with the potential of workforce, we need to start again in high school, and that is what the aflcio and jfk have been trying afk have been trying to do this year to be intentional. You tell a story, and you just heard the story of jason. [applause] guest thank you, randy. So well put. Well, i do not see anymore questions and i just want to thank everyone oh, is there another one . Guest i was just wondering, i know a lot of the entertainment workers are on strike and on picket lines, and what is something people can do to support the striking workers . Guest thanks for that question. Number one is amplifying our stories online, and with your friends and family, helping us tell the story of why we are fighting and what we are fighting for. There are a couple of emergency funds that actors, performers, writers, and other creatives can apply to, so we really encourage folks to do that. One of those is the sagaftra foundation as well as the Entertainment Community fund. [indiscernible] guest Motion Picture or Television Fund is the third, so we encourage folks to donate if you can. Those are helping a lot of folks stay above water right now as they are out of work, and thanks to ryan, the local staff. I want to honor the incredible staff that work at our unions too, not just the members, and i think continuing to i also need media scrutiny taking stories with a grain of salt and a lot of publications are this side of the executives and that is an important tool to remember the union is giving us the proper information, so those are ways you can help, and just general solidarity, and yeah. Your voice. [applause] user financial resources. Join a picket line near you. We have a strike map on the website folks can go to, and the funds can be found that sagaftra. Org. Sagaftrastrike. Org is a major resource. Guest we all stand in solidarity with you, now, for however long it takes. With that, i do not know if there are any final thoughts, lightning round from the final. Any final words for those who were watching about it is better in a union as we head into labor day. Anybody want to give us any final words . Of course, louise. Lets hear it. Guest the union, hearing about it, seeing how people are passionate about it makes me feel so heartfelt. Guest that is awesome. [applause] guest thank you guys for being here ensuring your support. That is what i have got to say. Guest anybody else . That is such a great way to end. Cannot say it better than that. I want to say thank you to everyone for being here. Fred and i are honored to usher in a labor day with all of us together, and we will be seeing you out there on the streets, and for those from the press we have the bo hines with data from our poll, and lets lift up that 80 number, but it is about all of us, it is about our entire movement coming together and being intentional about reaching out to that next generation. So that is our theme for the next year, knowing that workers are struggling, we know the answer, the solution is the way to come together in your union, and it is better in a union. Thank you all. Happy labor day. [applause] [indiscernible chatter] [indiscernible chatter] [indiscernible chatter] [captioning performed by the